<nettime> empire (cracked)

[sebastian@textz.com]

         geert@xs4all.nl wrote:
         > could you perhaps post something to nettime if it's possible
         > to crack a pdf file? i have no idea. did people try to do
         > this?

         loget@zvolve.com wrote:
         > This is the encryption scheme for the breaking of which the
         > FBI recently arrested a russian coder who came to las vegas to
         > expose his findings. Last time i checked their software was
         > only for windows ... who will free Empire?

         in fact it *is* possible to crack a pdf. the recently arrested
         dmitry sklyarov (and andy malyshev, to give full credits) have
         written an "advanced pdf password recovery" (apdfpr) tool
         (released by the moscow-based elcomsoft.com) that decrypts
         protected pdfs. the free trial version will only decrypt a small
         part of any document, so you can either register for $30 (which
         seems appropriate to me) or try to crack apdfpr itself (google
         is a good point to start, but it may take an hour or two...)

         cracked empire pdf:
         http://excess4all.com/empire

         raw ascii version:
         http://textz.gnutenberg.net

         clean ascii version to come...

         cheers,
         sebastian

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